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10 Questions to Ask Before Your Microbakery Busy Season | Episode 22

  • Nov 12, 2024
  • 7 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts


The fourth quarter is the busiest stretch of the year for most retail businesses, and bakeries are no exception. You are probably already putting pumpkin spice on the menu, testing holiday flavors, and looking at market applications.


This is the moment to set the foundation, before you are in the thick of it. Once the orders are pouring in, you will make decisions on adrenaline, and adrenaline is not a planning tool.


So here are ten questions to answer now. Grab a pen and paper and actually write the answers down, because the point is being able to reread them in November when somebody offers you a market that would eat your only day off.


1. How do I want to feel at the end of the season?

Start here, before you set a single number. When January rolls around, do you want to feel exhausted, burnt out, and relieved it is over? Or fulfilled, proud of the work you did, ready to catch your breath and still energized?


It is so easy to get swept into the rush. Demand is high, and it feels like you have to meet every bit of it. That is where burnout comes from. Write down the feelings you are working toward and keep them where you will see them.


2. What are my non-negotiables?

These are the things you will not give up this season, and the things that cannot move.


Some are personal. The scheduled family gatherings, the evening walk, your morning coffee in peace. Some are professional. You do not work past a certain hour. You bake a set number of days a week and no more.


Define them now, while your head is clear. Wait until you are in the middle of it and you will be building boundaries and holding them at the same time, which almost never works.


3. What do I want to prioritize?

Pick your one thing. Maybe it is maximizing sales this year. Maybe it is going deeper with the customers you already have. Maybe it is protecting your sanity, which will mean saying no to a lot of good opportunities.


Write it down. Every time an opportunity comes at you between now and January, check it against your priority, your non-negotiables, and how you want to feel at the end of the season. Those three answers make almost every decision for you.


4. What are my goals?

Now get specific, on the business side and the personal side.


Business goals might be a revenue target, a number of loaves sold, growing your customer base by a set percentage, streamlining a process to buy back time, or a holiday flavor that becomes a seasonal favorite. Maybe it is simply that your bakery income pays for your holiday gifts this year.


Set the household goals alongside them, and for each one write the what and the why. Knowing why a goal matters is what keeps you from abandoning it in week three.


5. What is my capacity?

This one takes real honesty. How many loaves can you bake, package, and get into customers' hands each week without your quality slipping or running yourself into the ground?


You can streamline your process and lift that number some, and you still have a limit somewhere. Be realistic about the hours you can work while still showing up for everything else in your life.


Capacity is not just what you are capable of. It is what you can do well. You may well be able to bake like a madman, hit every market, and supply bread for your whole city. The question is whether you can do it without giving up the non-negotiables you just wrote down.


6. What resources do I need?

Walk through your plan and list what it actually requires.

  • Help. An assistant in the kitchen, someone to handle deliveries, a part-time helper just for the season. I hired an assistant for October and through the holidays so I could hit my goals and still be present for my family.

  • An ordering system. If you are still taking orders by text and DM, this is the season that breaks that. Get on a platform like the Simply Bread app or Hotplate before the volume arrives, because things fall through the cracks fast when life gets crazy.

  • Your time. Decide whether grocery shopping is worth your hours, or whether paying a delivery fee buys back time you need more.

  • Specialty supplies. Identify the holiday-only ingredients, packaging and labels now and order them ahead. I had to overnight an emergency Amazon order once or twice last year, and I am not doing that again.


7. What could go wrong, and how will I handle it?

You cannot predict everything, and you can absolutely predict the usual suspects.


Supply issues, like running out of flour or the specialty ingredient your holiday product depends on. I use a lot of dehydrated lemon and orange slices in my holiday packaging, so I stock those early. Weather that wrecks a market day. Family obligations appearing out of nowhere. Kids bringing colds home from school, because that is what this season does.


Cooler weather changes how your dough behaves too. You may need to shift your fermentation from the daytime to overnight so you are shaping in the morning. Think that through now rather than in the middle of a bake day that has gone sideways.


Then answer two direct questions. What is your backup if your usual supplier is out of stock? What happens if a key piece of equipment dies, and do you have a rainy day fund for a fridge or a freezer? Something is going to go wrong, and deciding now is what lets you handle it with grace later.


8. How will I know if I need to adjust the plan?

It is easy to stay on autopilot and push through. Sometimes the right call is to stop and reassess, so decide in advance what would tell you that.


Set a benchmark you can actually check, like a sales number you want to hit by a certain date. If you are under it, that is your signal to change strategy, add an event, or adjust the goal to match reality.


Some signals are not numbers. Feeling constantly overwhelmed counts, so does your quality slipping, so does getting sick and needing a week off. Listen to your body, because if you are the business, taking care of yourself is how the business keeps running.


9. What self care will I commit to?

Do not overcomplicate this. A five minute meditation. Drinking enough water. Going to bed at a set time or sleeping a set number of hours. A walk during the day. One full day off a week. Eating a lunch with protein in it instead of a slice of bread, and yes, I am preaching to myself here.


You do not have to check every self care box. Pick one or two that would make the biggest difference and commit to those. The better you take care of yourself, the better you can take care of your business.


10. Who can I lean on?

Please do not be afraid to ask for help. Your partner taking over a household chore. A neighbor watching the kids for two hours. A fellow baker who understands exactly what this season feels like and will let you bounce ideas around and vent when it gets hard.


A support network makes a difference in any season, and in this one it is the difference between finishing strong and finishing wrecked.


If you are a few years in

If you have run a couple of holiday seasons already, use your data instead of guessing. Pull your numbers from last Q4 and find your true weekly maximum, the week where quality or your sleep started to go. That is your capacity, not the number you wish it were.


Then do the math on help. If an assistant costs a set amount per week and frees up hours to bake and sell more, work out whether the extra sales cover it. Bring that person on before the rush so they are trained when you need them.


And put a date on your pivot benchmark, so you know by early November whether you are on pace while there is still time to change something.


Final thoughts

This season is about more than maximizing the busy retail months. It is about enjoying it, savoring the traditions with your people, staying true to your values, and reaching January proud of what you built and of what you said no to.


Answer the ten questions this week while things are still calm. Future you, sometime in mid-December, is going to be so grateful you did!


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If you are planning your next season, go deeper here.


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